Tan Guifeng, Yuan Minlan, Li Lun, Zhu Hongru, Lui Su, Qiu Changjian, Zhang Wei
Mental Health Center and Psychiatric Laboratory, the State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 GuoXue Xiang, Chengdu, 610041, P. R. China.
Huaxi Brain Research Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, P. R. China.
BMC Psychiatry. 2025 Jan 2;25(1):5. doi: 10.1186/s12888-024-06460-1.
The high comorbidity and symptom overlap of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and social anxiety disorder (SAD), has led to the study of their shared and disorder-specific neural substrates. However, the morphometric similarity network (MSN) differences among these disorders remain unknown.
MSN derived from T1-weighted images in patients of GAD, PTSD, and SAD, and health controls (HC) using a Siemens 3T magnetic resonance imaging system. Covariance analysis and post hoc tests were used to investigate group differences. In addition, the relationship between MSN and clinical characteristics was analyzed.
Increased morphometric similarity (MS) between left bankssts (BA22, superior temporal cortex, STC) and right precentral gyrus, and decreased MS between left precentral gyrus and right cuneus_part1/part2, and between right rostral middle frontal cortex (rMFC) and right STC were common in GAD and PTSD relative to HC and SAD. Compared to the other three groups, SAD exhibited disorder-specific alterations of increased MS between right rMFC and right STC, and between left cuneus and right inferior parietal cortex. Additionally, increased regional MSN in left precentral gyrus was found in PTSD compared to HC and SAD. A mild positive correlation of the MS value between left bankssts and right precentral gyrus and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale scores (uncorrected p = 0.041) was found in PTSD.
Our study provides the first evidence for common and distinct brain MSN abnormalities underlying the pathophysiology of GAD, PTSD, and SAD, which may aid in differential diagnosis and determining potential disorder-specific intervention targets.
广泛性焦虑障碍（GAD）、创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）和社交焦虑障碍（SAD）的高共病率和症状重叠，引发了对它们共同的和特定于疾病的神经基质的研究。然而，这些疾病之间的形态相似性网络（MSN）差异仍然未知。
使用西门子3T磁共振成像系统，从GAD、PTSD和SAD患者以及健康对照（HC）的T1加权图像中获取MSN。采用协方差分析和事后检验来研究组间差异。此外，还分析了MSN与临床特征之间的关系。
相对于HC和SAD，GAD和PTSD中常见的情况是，左侧颞上回（BA22，颞上叶皮质，STC）与右侧中央前回之间的形态相似性（MS）增加，左侧中央前回与右侧楔叶/楔叶之间以及右侧额中回（rMFC）与右侧STC之间的MS降低。与其他三组相比，SAD表现出特定于疾病的改变，即右侧rMFC与右侧STC之间以及左侧楔叶与右侧顶下小叶之间的MS增加。此外，与HC和SAD相比，PTSD患者左侧中央前回的区域MSN增加。在PTSD中发现左侧颞上回与右侧中央前回之间的MS值与汉密尔顿焦虑量表评分呈轻度正相关（未校正p = 0.041）。
我们的研究为GAD、PTSD和SAD病理生理学背后常见和独特的脑MSN异常提供了首个证据，这可能有助于鉴别诊断并确定潜在的特定于疾病的干预靶点。
